Improvement in harvester-droppers



NI'IED STATES EPHRAIM MYERS, OF OREAGERSTOIVN, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN HARVESTER-empresas.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 98,090, dated December21, 1869; antedated December 4, 1869.

To all whom 'it may concern: l

Be it known that I, EPHRAIM MYERs, of Creagerstown, in the county ofFrederick, and in the State of Maryland, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Automatic Grain-Dropper for Harvesters; and dohereby declare that the following is a full,

` clear, and exact description thereof, reference to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to.describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, whichform a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a plan viewof the grain-droppen Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, part of onewheel being removed; and Fig. 3 is an inside view of the dividing-board.

A represents the ymain frame of aharvester; B B, its Wheels; C, thenger-bar, and D the dividing-board.

At or near the rear edge of the finger-bar G is pivoted a frame, a, madeof metal, and extending the whole length of thetnger-bar, the sides ofsaid frame extendingifto a suitable height, and having between theirupper ends a grainboard, E. This grainboard, which is made of lightboard, properly bound to prevent it from splitting, or of any othersuitable material, is provided withjournals b b exactly at the center ofits ends which journals have their bearings in the upper ends of thesides of said frame.

The journal or axle Z1 at the inner end of the grain-board E extendsthrough the side of the frame a; and on this journal, outside of theframe, is placed a loose collar, c, having,

an arm, d, to the outer end of which a bar or lever, c, is pivoted. Thearm d is of such length that the point where the bar e is pivoted to thesame will be beyond or outside of the edge of the grain-board E,when thegrainboard is turned down on said bar, and the bar e is at itspivot-point provided with a latch, e', depositing the grain in onevheap.

which holds the edge of said grain-board. The bar c extends forwardunder the grainboard, and just inside of the side of the frame a. thenpasses through a guide or loop, f, on the side ot' the frame. Its frontend is on the under side provided with a hook, g, or catch, and one ofthe wheels B is-on one side, at

suitable intervals, provided with pins it, on

which the hook g catches.

On the rear end of the frame is placed a lever, h, one end of whichextends beyond the frame, and is provided with a hook, on, which is soplaced as to catch on the journal b when the grain-board is raised. Thislever h may, of course, be of any suitable construction, and placed atany point on the frame, only so that its hook m is in position to catchon and hold the journal mentioned.

To the upper end of the outer side of the frame a is attached a curvedarm, n, which is bent forward, and runs along or near the edge of thedividing-board D. This arm is provided with one or more hooks, o o, soas to catch and pull down any grain that might hang over thedividing-board instead of on the grain-board, and also to assist indropping` the grain which falls near the edge of the grain-board, asthis does not fall of itselt` as readily as nearer the center when thegrain leans outward.

On the dividing-board is placed a shield, p, of the same form as the armn, said arm pass ing between this shield and the dividing-board, theshield preventing any grain from falling between and in any way cloggingthe saine.

In Fig. l I have represented the machine as ready to receive the grainto form a sheai'. It will be seen that the frame a, is raised to aproper angle from the finger bar, being held there by the hook m on thelever h, the lower edge of the grain-board resting against a pin, r, orother suitable obstacle on the nger-bar, so as to be in proper positionto receive the grain. The weight of the bar e brings the arm d outwardor backward from the center of the grain-board.,

When, now, sufficient grain has been cut to form a sheaf, the operator,by the use of the lever h, releases the hook m from the journal b',which lets the grain board and frame fall, By this motion the arm dbecomes extended to its full length, and the outer edge of thegrain-board is caught by the latch e'. Almost at the same instant thehook g on the front end of the bar eis caught by one of the pins t' onthe wheel, which carries said bar upward and forward. This motion of thebar e draws the rear end of the arm d forward, which, of course, willraise the frame c and grain board E. 'Ihe latch e in the meantime,having hold of the edge of the grain-board,turnsthe same around so thatall the grain will fall off.

` lt might thus be said that the grain board has three distinct andseparate movements at the same time-namely, the falling, rising, andturnin g-because it is at the very instant when it falls that itcommences its upward and rotating movement.

Then the bar e has been carried forward far enough to raise the frameand grain-board to their original position, the hook g is released fromthe pin t by the end of the bar e striking a slide or other suitableobstruction in front of the main axle. By this time the grainboard E haspassed over one or more springs or inclined planes, s, attached to therear end of the finger-bar, which brings it up again in the firstposition and prevents it from sliding back, and the hook m on the leverh has caught on the journal b', as before, holding the frame andgrainboard up ready for the next sheaf. While the next sheaf is formingon the grain-board the arm d will, by the jostlin g of the machine overthe ground and the friction of its lower end on the stubble, togetherwith the weight of the bar e, be brought behind the center of thegrain-board, as before described, thus placing the bar e in position todrop down and be caught by one of the pins t' when the sheaf has beendropped.

The front end of the bar e, on the upper side, I make of such form thatwhen the bar has been carried up and forward and released from its pinthey next pin will not catch on the same, but cause the bar to slideback.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Pate-nt, is

l. The arrangement, with a harvester, of the 3. The bar e, constructedas described, and

provided at its rear end, where it is pivoted to the arm d, with alatch, e', and on the under side of its front end with a hook, g, tocatch on the pins i i of the wheel B, substan tially as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

4. The lever It, extending in the rear of the harvester, and providedwith a hook, m, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

5. The curved arm n, attached to the frame a, as described, and providedwith one ormore hooks, o 0, said arm operating at or near the upper edgeof the dividing-board D, substantially as and for the purposes hereinset forth.

6. In combination with the arm n, having one or more hooks, o, theshield p, attached to the dividing-board D, substantially as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this3d day of March, 1869.

EPHRAIM MYERS.

Witnesses:

LEOPOLD Evnn'r, J. A. HURDEs.

